Tory numbers game

February 8, 2012

Whitby-Oshawa Tory MPP Christine Elliott wouldn’t put a number on the kind of support Tory leader Tim Hudak needs to survive as leader.

With the vote expected Saturday in Niagara Falls, the number most people are eyeing is 66.9%. That’s the number John Tory got in review after the 2007 election. Tory stayed on – only to lose a byelection in Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock.

It’s the same number Joe Clark said was not enough in 1983. He called a leadership convention.

Elliott said she’s not supporting anyone in the hotly-contested race for president.
“I am neutral in that respect, because in my role as deputy leader I think that’s important that both Tim Hudak and I as leader and deputy leader will be working with whoever the members decide to elect,” she said.
“But they are all three great candidates.”

“I think the important thing for us is to move forward after this is over and get to work on jobs and the economy,” she said.

And Elliott acknowledged that mistakes were made in last October’s election, but said it’s time for the Tories to move on. She said it’s time to stop, “looking in the rearview mirror.”

Her hubby, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has picked his guy for president.

“He has indicated that he is supporting Richard Chiano,” Elliott told reporters.

It’s unlikely Hudak will get 80% support. Tories are a cranky bunch at the best of times. They tend to be fractionalized and tribal – and grumpy. Indications right now are that he’ll get more support than Clark and Tory did. And that’s all he needs.